Consuming Black
by Gweynavere
Summary: Lynne is an abandoned Umbrella researcher sorting through the wreck of her life and the world. However, affiliations from her past keep haunting her and the main demon nipping at her heels is Albert Wesker. WeskerXOC
1. Chapter 1: Silly Games

Please enjoy.

**12.08.2012** I edited the thoughts to be italicized instead of being indicated by a single apostrophe '...' *****

*****completed on **4.09.2012**

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**Chapter One: Silly Games**

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With the felling of the last zombie Lynne collapsed against the wall and brought her bloodied hands to her face, half-restraining and half-supporting her silent screams. Tears of justified hate and loathing flowed from her weary eyes as she was repulsed once more by the terror clutching at her heart... and the fact that it was dying.

She wiped her dirtied face with the sleeve of the coat Albert Wesker had wrapped her in - a white coat with small frills on the front along side the zipper. He had outfitted her in a pair of skinny jeans and flat-heeled boots with insoles to comfort her flat feet and a long black tank top with a rather sexually appealing bra underneath. Yes, he had equipped her well for this new playground. Shuddering at the last few thoughts of self-pity Lynne resumed - she couldn't rest now: there were four more stages to go through.

Stuffing the extra clip into her coat pocket Lynne firmed her grip on the handgun. "Seven shots left..." she reminded herself out loud. This was the only form of self-soothe she had in her array of tactics of mental survival. It was a good thing, it was key to organizing her thoughts and remembering things that might keep her alive. Alive...

With the turn of the key she had been given with Lynne pushed open the door very slightly, keen on finding any monster and getting the drop on it before it surprised her. Holding her breath she peered through the space and saw one shambling zombie circling a group of desks that had remained fairly intact. She wondered what the purpose of the room was but before she drifted any further from her current situation she snapped back into the present. That zombie needed some hard love and she was pressed to give it up to him. "What else is in here though...?" she thought solemnly, contemplating that Albert should plant another... more fearsome creature, perhaps an actual B.O.W. A familiar click-clacking brought a horrible realization. Immediately Lynne reflexively pulled the door completely shut and braced it for two hounds were battering against the door, scratching at it ferociously and she bit fear as the door began to cave in, her weight being jostled at every break. _Shit, shit, shit, shit!_ Lynne's mind screamed. She was in panic mode again, her hands fumbling with the door and with the handgun. _Seven rounds... Seven rounds before I have to reload..._ The thought soured her expression. "I guess... I don't have much of a choice." Before the door gave way, Lynne braced for one final lunge and ducked out of the way, finger itching.

_Click! Click! Click!_ Empty. But it relieved her to keep pulling the trigger, keep hearing this sound.

"Aaaahhhh..." sighed the zombie as it fumbled through the door, tripping over the dogs as its head arched towards Lynne. Faithfully she dug out the last clip and slammed it in, killing the monster in one shot. It wore a t-shirt decorated richly with a band's logo - one that she didn't exactly recognize. It was, by now, tattered full of holes and bloodied almost beyond recognition with a pair of jeans that were falling off of its body, a chain clinking on its side. Humans. They were once human, they once had a life and now... now it had all gone to shit, the world was decaying, the world itself!

"Fuck!" Lynne shouted out, reveling in the sudden outburst. She laughed at herself and removed the key, amazed that it was till intact.

The room was much smaller than she had originally anticipated - the main feature was the group of desks with files and office supplies scattered about, the screens blank or toppled over. Lynne began searching, eyeing the door that had been outfitted with the next task. It only took a moment to inspect it and realize it needed some kind of key card to unlock, one that she currently did not have. As she shuffled through the contents of the desks, file cabinets and through all the papers she was heavily reminded of when she first met Wesker.

Her fingers found something familiar: it was her security clearance, her ID tag from when she worked as a researcher for Umbrella. "I didn't take you for the sentimental type Albert." It was mostly a joke to herself - Albert was in no way sentimental. But how had he gotten a hold of this particular ID? Lynne had lost it multiple times, try as she might to keep it in excellent condition there were a few tell-tale nicks on the corner. Which is what gave this one away. "It should have burned..." The memory of the fire blazed across her mind. With one hand she shuffled a view through her fingers, smiling slightly. "It's all in the past, isn't it?" Curious Lynne inspected the lock once more and saw that there had been a few modifications. Rebooting the scanner she flashed her ID tag and to her amusing surprise, the door unlocked.

Lights flickered on to reveal a clean white room and an observation table with an unmutated body resting upon it. "A sick game..." His face looked much like Jon's and perhaps this was Albert's way of keeping up the mind fuck. She took a deep breath and withdrew the sheets, slightly aghast at the number of incisions performed on the body. Several notable ones were made in just the thorax alone and one down the abdomen, the skin pinned back to reveal the organs hidden underneath the muscular tissue. A tray had been laid out beside the table containing a single tool: a scalpel. "This isn't a Silent Hill game Wesker. Or Saw."

Lynne ignored it for the moment being and decided to inspect the two other doors. One was sealed shut, requiring some sort of key card yet again and the other was so sorely impacted that it probably wouldn't have opened without some show of brute force. "Force I don't possess." Sighing she wondered if anything in particular had been hidden inside the body and that's why the scalpel was there. "Of course it is." What the hell was Lynne supposed to do? Carve it up until she found some sort of key?

A horrible screech filled her ears. "What the...?" She had never heard it before and the ground began to shake every few seconds. "What the hell is that?" _Thud! Thud!_ Pulling up her sleeves Lynne decided now wasn't a good time to be shy and had at the body, tackling it from all sorts of directions unsure of what to think of the previous display. All she knew was those footsteps were creeping ever so close and she hoped that she wasn't around to witness the cause of them.

"What the fuck is this?" It was a small vial with a needle attached to it. _Automatic delivery upon injection - what was the name for this again... _A roar brought her back to reality and she set it off to the side hoping it wasn't what she thought it was. _Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! _Albert... There was something shining underneath the sternum, something slick and made of plastic. Breaking a few ribs, Lynne reached underneath and grasped the card which had been smuggled into the heart. "Yeah yeah, jokes aside let's get the fuck out of here." Grabbing the vial, Lynne checked her handgun and thrust the key card into the lock. There wasn't any time for the door to open as the humanoid creature burst through the opposing door, metal scraping her arm.

It's skin was a hideously pale grey with visor like sunglasses edged onto its nose and plastic colored trench coat sheltering its massive figure. It looked directly at her. At her... Cautiously it walked with some sort of cruel intention - was she imagining it?

"Fuck..." Without so much as thinking Lynne dived into the next room, hoping there wasn't anything to fear when she fell upon a zombie. It was apparently as shocked as she was but began to react normally when it smelled the blood dripping down her arm. Lynne swiftly dealt a killing blow, popping it in the chest with one round and jumping up just enough to see her only chance of escaping: the cliché air vent just beyond her reach. "Ahh!" she yelped, falling to the ground as a punch scraped the air above her scalp. 'Shit, that was close!' Lynne doubled back around the room, running back past the observation table and into the containment bay that she had started in, hoping the creature would follow. It came in bursts of charges - often Lynne would narrowly dodge the creature's lunging grabs, its sleeve grazing her head. This phase of her plan worked but the other part, the getting-out-alive part, was still in progress.

The creature roared and brought a punishing blow, thankfully, into the wall behind Lynne. His hand made so severe an impact he might have been the last bit that wall could take, a chalky residue floating up into the air. _Wait a minute..._ Was this stupid enough to work? Lynne stayed in close quarters with the creature, dancing around it and leading it back to that very spot. _Maybe... just maybe the movies will have taught me something and he might..._ She raised the handgun and emptied the rest of the clip into the creature hoping it would piss it off and give it a bit more oomph. 'Three... Two... One!' Lynne dove, the skin on her back jumping with goosebumps as she rolled and recovered, hazily breathing from exhaustion and adrenaline. Her goal was the vent - if she could just get to the damn vent!

The creature's footsteps were following her about a minute after, right when Lynne finished prying off the rusted gate. She mentally cursed a storm, ducking inside and breaking her joints against the shaft walls as she crawled for her life. _This is pathetic!_ she screamed in her head, panting, sobbing, and in pain. _I'm going to kill Albert Wesker one day!_ she vowed solemnly in her head though she knew it to be farce - she could never kill that man let alone muster enough courage to bring a gun to his face. He frightened her and these last circling thoughts were what kept her going, what kept her trucking on until a fatal creak interrupted her internal speech and the shaft gave way.

Lynne screamed in surprise.

Her head hurt so much...

Lynne floated above the containment bay in her mind's eye, picturing how devastated she was to find herself in another script authored by Wesker. He had locked her into that cage, suspended her safely above the ground and given her a key and handgun - the means with which to earn her salvation this round. His voice sounded calm and smooth as it greeted her with a "Hello Lynne, it's been quite a while hasn't it?" and finishing with "Please do survive my dear - I do enjoy seeing you struggle on." _But he was such an ass..._ Albert had equipped her with an empty gun, attaching the clips to one of the zombies' head he let loose about the floor taking care to sever their legs. He had so enjoyed this thought of her digging into the flesh of the decayed crawlers, of watching her writhe in torment in having to secure her freedom with her bare hands - but he did leave her the archaic option of using the debris lying around the damaged facility. Oh yes, he had been so kind to choose a location such as this.

Lynne wondered... would she die if she closed her eyes? Just for a moment? "Who knows what else is roaming around here... plus that monster..." she moaned when two very able hands brought her to rest against them. "Maybe... I can..." she thought out loud.


	2. Chapter 2: Intimacy

**4.09.2012:**Minor task editing.

Enjoy.

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**Chapter Two: Intimacy**

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Warm.

Lynne's mind was doing tedious cycles, dwelling in absentmindedness and craving the heat from the water raining down upon her. Memorably she traced the grout with her fingers, treated as fragile as a snowflake and pressed her lips against the tile, her back covered with water rolling down in sleeves. Lynne thought of Jon, her of once beloved fiance and sought to remember more of his personality, of the way they were and how they treated one another. "But something's missing..." Lynne winced as she pulled away — her arm still ached terribly.

Simple. Direct. Malicious and very hollow sounding - that voice was very hollow and malicious sounding. Lynne cast a wary backwards glance, keeping her breasts secured in good arm. "Let me see your arm." Albert. Albert Wesker. She remembered now. Lynne shakily emerged from the shower the cold uncomfortably frosting her skin and stinging her nerves. Obediently she came to him, unsure if she could really do anything otherwise. "Trying to hide yourself behind meager defenses? I have seen all of you." _But I've never been conscious for it..._ she added mentally. Wesker led her to the bed room and pressed her to sit, pulling out a first aid kit and performing responsible duties.

"Thank you." Wesker raised an eyebrow, his eyes appearing slightly over his sunglasses. "For saving me." He ignored that comment so far and released her arm rather abruptly as if to counter this kindness.

Wesker was outfitted in a black suit that had a bit of dust on it. Apart from that it was clean as far as she could tell.

Lynne began to shiver. He wrapped her in a soft robe. Lynne stopped shivering. "You're going to leave now, aren't you?" she let out. He smirked perhaps at this question, this thought, most likely assuming it meant she wished otherwise. But that much was true - Lynne wished he would stay. It had been a while since she had seen a real live human being, a person who wouldn't try to eat her or lunge at her primitively scratching at her body and clothes to sate its insatiable hunger. He breathed the air in the same way she did, he spoke the same language of sanity and he possessed human capabilities. Lynne bit back the reaction to cry — it was so exhausting to even think of being alone again.

"There's nothing else I can do here." So simple. Direct. It rolled off his tongue. Lynne, in a moment, admired it. That plain directness, that non-bullshit answer that almost teased her for her weakness while kicking to the curb any real hopes of enjoying his presence any longer. Was this pathetic to want even someone like him to comfort her? To erase the decayed hungrily chasing down her own sense? Someone who willfully put her through trials with said monsters, who drowned her in fear and torment for his own pleasure?

And then she remembered. This was Albert Wesker. He didn't give a damn.

"Ah... Yes, you are right." And then Lynne smiled at him, a reflex she wasn't able to control.

Warm.

Her skin was kissed and caressed, the soft fleece keeping her warm.

"Wesker..." she started as he amused himself to see what would happen if he were to perhaps linger. Lynne thought about it many times, thought about offering herself to him if that would make him stay, if that would make him stay a few more moments so she didn't have to remember all that she had seen and been forced to witness.

"Yes?" his voice had lost that quality that she had come to know him by — that sound of somehow berating and cruel jesting. It became more relatable, more human and more grounded. Was the other voice she knew, then, to be some sort of mask? It couldn't be.

"Will... you please stay with me a bit longer?" This was something to celebrate in and of itself. Not once had she been able to so easily speak her desires and this was a small victory in conquering herself.

"I've things to do." Shot down. "Unless you can suggest something that would be well worth my time." It came back. That voice came back.

Lynne wondered why she still felt so strange. It hurt her head to act in this manner, this sickly and dazed manner but perhaps it was a side-effect of hitting her head so hard. Her head. it kept racing and she tried to steady herself. Was she going to faint again? Her head was rushing with pain. What should she do about it?

A black shadow came nearer and with a cold hand she reached out and grabbed the nearest thing: something rough like cotton.

* * *

He was perplexed by the appearance of one of the tyrant models but not enough to be too worried about it. It was something that he could better handle with more tangible data in his hands. That might have been something worthwhile. Nonetheless he found it amusing when Lynne tried to hold him there, tried to change his decision. His mind jokingly contemplated forcing Lynne to submit to him. Either way he might be able to garner some sort of attention to kill off his boredom.

_My poor little toy is a bit broken at the moment,_ he thought out of idle observation recognizing the damage to her arm, the minor cuts and bruises sustained from falling through the ventilator shaft and the rather obnoxious knock on the head she collected from striking a slab of concrete sticking up among the debris. That had ended his little game and had cost him some valuable entertainment.

Shame on that tyrant.

Wesker had to leave his view and collect her before something worse happened though he wondered what objective had been implanted into that particular model. It was disturbing to realize he didn't know off-hand and perhaps it might have been sent after him — one of Umbrella's remnants threading the work. But it took to Lynne.

"I..." An unconscious murmur escaped her pretty lips. He recognized that she might still be a bit jarred from that fall and neared her, smiling when a hand jolted out to catch a part of his coat. If anything it would be nice to stay and make sure she was still alive so that he might continue to delight in her struggles.

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Lynne dreamed:

She was walking back down to the labs to meet Jon. She thought that she should miss this person now, this person who was once her fiance. "Ah, Lynne, come here," he motioned, his back to her and face deep in a microscope sketching some notes. Lynne obeyed and was taken by surprise when he swiveled towards her, his eyes intense with some sort of goal and pulled her down onto his lap. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" She didn't have time to react as Jon slipped his hands under her clothes and rubbed her skin, pressing passionate lips onto hers.

Times like this always made her nervous. "J-Jon!" she started to squeak. "Not here!" He laughed and carried on as if nothing mattered which was rather nice but it conflicted with her work policy: Lynne liked to think that when she was at work she was actually working — not having some sort of sexual escapade. But... then again, weren't these kinds of situations always in those dirty novels? And not even the dirty ones but it seemed to be a popular theme of romance enthusiasts of free sex, and everywhere sex.

She should be enjoying this feeling, shouldn't she? There was no joy though, there was no bliss. If fact Lynne felt so cold and so numb, her heart beating a dead rhythm. She watched her body submit before Jon's wishes, watched him take her and fall back into his chair, returning to work after making some sort of cheesy joke.

Lynne felt disgusted, more than anything. She felt sick to have been touched, to have had someone touch her in this way and felt the urge to vomit. It was so powerful, this feeling of revulsion she was experiencing and couldn't quite reason or explain the cause. Something was killing her though. She hated it. She hated it more than anything in the world to be touched so intimately by someone: by Jon, whom she had loved.

Lynne awoke:

Her face was breathing in cotton and as her brain finally began to register the situation she felt glad. He was warm. She would steal this from him.

"Wesker..." she murmured silently, muffled by the cloth that adorned his body. It was nice to be this close to someone right now. It was nice to not have to see the face of a monster growling and snapping at her. Lynne rubbed her face unconsciously on his chest, smothering and soothing her waking heart. So nice... It felt so nice to be able to do this.

She could feel her. Lynne could feel her body and that pleased her. She felt the softness of her lips as it was pressed against fabric, as it grasped the texture and grazed it continuously. She felt the smoothness of her skin that was tickled as it was tasting texture. It felt so nice. Lynne's hands reached Wesker's shoulders, willingly moving on their own and dancing around enjoying sensations. It felt nice to be alive in this moment. She let out a pleased moan, a final exasperation of her mood to be able to enjoy sitting comfortably in her body although she realized it would end soon.

Albert watched as she took to strange habits. He watched as Lynne pressed herself against him, pressed her face into his chest and rubbed her face into his shirt and coat, ignoring him in a way. It reminded him of a cat. The realization made him laugh but he contained it and watched her seek such physically simple pleasures. It made him happy in a way but he could do her better, couldn't he? But did he care to?

_This is Albert Wesker. This man has done so much harm to me and here I am snuggling up to him._

* * *

Albert removed his gloves, unbeknownst to the cat in his lap and brushed his fingers through her hair. She reacted nicely, arching her head up for more and he obliged, smiling deviously and unseen as she shivered at his touch. Albert reached over with his other hand and caressed her face, twitching slightly as she tickled his palm by burying her lips and face into it. He felt mostly the former and retained his composure. "It seems you are well." Perhaps he had broken the trance Lynne had been immersed in for she pulled away, hiding her face in shamed reds.

"Y-yes." It'd been a while, hadn't it? For him as well. He had been so busy and women could be so hard to come across. Of course, he had his tastes to take into account:

Lynne was a small person, though of average height, perhaps, standing at five foot five with silky, curly, black hair. She had inherited that thick hair as well as her tan skin from her pacific ethnic background but she also came with a cute heart-shaped face, nicely filled lips and a splash of freckles set beneath her Asian tinted eyes. Her chest wasn't large but she had accommodating curves. All in all, Albert thought, she was actually quite beautiful.

Not quite the type he found himself enjoying on his breaks.

Her personality was quite something amusing too: she was so easy to tease and took most of it in good stride he had witnessed. Years hadn't changed that. What years had brought her though was wear and robbed her of comfort. Despite Umbrella's containment of the Raccoon City Incident several years ago, it was as if Lynne were still trapped in that time, re-living those terrors for which he was also partly responsible.

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"Maybe...?" Lynne had always wondered what it would have been like to kiss Wesker. She had met him so long ago in the labs of the Arklay Facilities that were constructed underneath the Spencer mansion. It was such a horrible feeling that she had indeed felt a strong pull towards him in the beginning despite her relationship with Jon. If only if only he would stop teasing her... Lynne sat flatly on Wesker's lap and stared at his face, curious. "You're... almost always wearing these sunglasses..." Slipping her fingers around them she paused, as if to ask if this were ok. He did nothing.

Lynne wasn't sure what to expect but her reaction caught her off-guard. His eyes looked... peculiar and somewhat reminiscent of the monsters who dragged themselves to her. However they had a beautiful nature to them, a strange quality that belonged only to Wesker.

Lynne leaned in, closing her eyes, and wondered when he would reject her.


	3. Chapter 3: Lynne, Albert and Wesker

_Enjoy.  
_

_**17.08.2012 Author's Note(s): **I realized I quite like this chapter more than the previous two. Perhaps I shall soon begin a massive revision after this "version" is complete. Though, I suppose this is nothing to worry about right now, neh?  
_

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_**Chapter Three: Lynne, Albert and Wesker**  
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_Albert._

Lynne milked this moment and inched closer, a faint aroma drifting off of his clothes — perhaps some sort of cologne? Why hadn't she noticed it before? It was rather pleasant. _Thank God_. "Are you sleeping?" Lynne whispered softly. _No, couldn't be. Albert's much too paranoid to let himself be vulnerable to me. Unless he doesn't see me as some sort of threat. Hm. I guess that can be both a compliment and an insult depending on how I look at it. Though... because it is Albert it must be an insult because surely he doesn't trust me — that would be ludicrous._ She touched a gentle finger to his face just below his right eye. Albert did not react negatively to her gesture.

Lynne snuggled just a bit closer... _So close! His face is so close!_ It was strange seeing him like this: without the signature shades and his slicked back hair. "He looks hot this way too." Albert's blonde hair was slightly out of place, strands pulled loose from the normal style hanging in wisps about his face. It made him look much younger. "But you are much older than me, aren't you?" Lynne bit her bottom lip in wonder and thought that it would be fun to try this one thing: with a quick hand she poked him in the forehead.

Albert's eyes shot open, a controlled annoyance dancing in his cat-like irises.

"You and your childish antics are rather bothersome." _Don't provoke me..._ she thought fiendishly. Albert allowed her one more offense but not without punishment. With a low growl he tossed Lynne on her back, effortlessly pinning her with a single hand. "Be careful little _girl_ — you'll not easily win yourself back into my good graces once you've fallen."

_His face is rather close._ Lynne blushed shyly, turning her head away in remembrance of last night's event. That memory consumed her now and in a fit of fondness Lynne's eyes collapsed shut and dreamily unveiled the experience: It was so unlike anything she had ever experienced. And Lynne was there for it — she didn't try to run away in her mind like she occasionally had with Jon. In fact Lynne didn't try to resist in any way.

* * *

Albert felt her heart gasp. What a strange thing to be able to detect.

"You are always wearing these sunglasses," she had muttered. It was amusing to observe her actions, to speculate what thoughts were going through her head. When she removed a piece of his cloak she furrowed her brow and gently bit her bottom lip as she had always done when deep in thought. Confusion followed to swiftly be dispelled and replaced with a different kind of illusion: softness. There was a powerfully soft quality in the gaze with which she wrestled the wonder that was his eyes.

And then she did something reckless: Lynne closed her eyes.

There was a pause as she leaned in. For a brief moment her eyes fluttered open: Albert enjoyed this hesitation. This slight pause might have been akin to her thinking rationally that maybe she should rethink her actions, should reconsider the past and stop herself. _As if I would let such a pretty bird fly down after flitting all this way without saying "hello"._ Albert closed the gap and fitted his lips onto hers, enjoying the mere physicality of the kiss all the while savoring the shock he seeped into her soul. What would it create in this girl? What would it change?

That was when he felt her heart skip.

Lynne's lips were kind and soft. And adventurous. She was looking for something more in this meaningless kiss. _Silly girl — you can't possibly not know that you are kissing a ghost, a corpse of the man you met. I've not been human for quite some time now._ Something enticing crippled his thoughts for a moment, brought them crashing down and opened up a new wall: Lynne's fingers found their way through his hair and actively lingering on the back of his neck — such a wonderful feeling all in all.

Albert wasn't exactly sure how long this "kiss" had lasted but he had enjoyed every bit of it. He had been curious to taste the young researcher who delivered the NE-a the Parisian branch had developed. Lynne had also been specially selected to be a part of the Arklay research team tempting Albert's interest in her realm of studies as well as wit and intelligence. She proved to be a valuable asset in many areas — especially entertainment. Albert had never met a more perfect person to torment. It piqued his interest how Jon ever managed to secure a hold on a fascinating creature such as her.

"Albert..." Lynne whispered softly. That brought him back to the cat in his lap. Albert laid her down to sleep but unable to completely escape her. Even in dreaming she retained her closeness with him and that was pleasing to his ego. _There truly is little else I can do at the moment._ He smiled at his little secret: he had only wanted to see if she would chase him. Albert was still in the process of furthering his ambitions but he could take a small detour.

Before Lynne had risen he observed: he could feel the weight she had noticeably lost. Albert pondered what terrors she might have faced in those dark hours that she spent occupied in the confines of the Raccoon City hospital meticulously spending her hands to create a vaccine for the rampant T-virus. She had often cited reasons to have a supply on hand in case of accidents but her petitions for funding for that little project went ignored.

So here he was, several years later, displaying his dominance over Lynne. He would be lying if he didn't admit that this current situation gave him ideas. She smelled very lovely and he must punish her for ruining a perfectly peaceful moment.

* * *

Lynne came back to present:

It came back to her. Something he had never really bothered to answer: what had happened in the Arklay Labs? Why had he been reported dead when he was alive and well right here before her? There was something else - Albert was obviously different from when she first met him. Perhaps though, in her mind, it would be most accurate to say that something in his personality was more pronounced. _But I am not so sure on the mechanics_. "What exactly is so different about you Mr. Wesker...?"

"'Mr. Wesker'?" he repeated, slightly irritated. Old habits died hard.

"Something's different." This notion kept resounding in her mind as she stared deep into his eyes, afraid that she did know the answer. However, Lynne concluded that this was relatively unimportant and if she waited patiently enough she would discover the reason soon enough..

"I see your powers of acute observation are still present." She smiled at him, her only laugh to him.

Something was forgotten: _Umbrella... Are they looking for me?_ Soon after she had fled the sanitation of Raccoon City Umbrella had secured Lynne and her research under threat of death should she become uncooperative and unreasonable. They were perfectly aware of her actions during the T-virus leaks and had, unfortunately, stayed their worries by locking her up. Jon returned her to the Parisian branch in a newly developed sector built in her absence for the sole purpose of furthering her findings on the NE-a. This was slightly confusing as the Nemesis Project had been completely and successfully executed. Lynne would know - she had seen it in action and thought it remarkable and terrible. Was it bearable that she had a hand in its development? And to find that it had been programmed to track down the remnant S. T. A. R. S. members she had set her sights on.

It was peculiar, her relationship with Jon, but enjoyable until she was moved to the American branch. Jon had explained to her that the company founder and director, Spencer, had passed a request from a researcher named Albert Wesker to transfer a sample of the Nemesis parasite, NE-a for short. After that Jon became increasingly suspicious and aggressive, venturing down into the labs and pulling her away for all sorts of "fun" activities.

Lynne remembered the nights she spent in Raccoon City, enjoying the times she encountered and befriended new people. While there Lynne had also established a home in a small but pleasant apartment near the police station and spent hours making plans for the wedding. Engaged... Yes, she was once engaged. Why had they been engaged? Lynne tried to recall if some sort of even had sparked it or if it had come naturally. She supposed that it truly didn't matter and in her own right, she experienced a latent sense of loss and grief: the life she had planned out and spent so long working towards was shattered into pieces on one fucking night. "Are you crying?" his voice sounded so distant. Lynne felt cold fingers brush away something wet.

"Hm?" Back to the present. Wesker had lost that cloak again, that taunting guise. Well, it wasn't so much a guise: that was an intrinsic part of Wesker's personality. But there was something in his eyes that indicated he was intrigued by this small moment of pain. Of emotional pain. "Was I?" _Albert always seems _just _intrigued or interested._

"Were you thinking of Jon?" So close. "You two were engaged, weren't you." He didn't mean it as a question, he didn't speak it like a question. That statement hung in the air, making it bitter. Lynne saw Albert's face again which brought up memories and questions about that kiss. Obsession? Did that make her annoying? She laughed at herself — of course it did. If she were to relay all these things to someone, it would of course annoy the shit out of them. But she couldn't help but think it was normal: she liked him. Maybe a bit more than that. Lynne engrossed herself in that enigmatic face, that one with sun shaded eyes. Wesker's grip loosened on her hands and with them she reached up to touch Albert's face again. "You have a strange fascination with putting your hands on people's faces. Perhaps I can show you a more pleasing place to occupy your fingers with." _Dirty. That's something I remember faintly. Every now and then, almost out of the blue, Albert was incredibly and subtlety dirty._

"Wesker..." she called but in her mind his name was "Albert". Lynne lifted her head to greet him, brushing her lips against his as if asking for permission, her heart pounding all the while. Her heart had nearly died the first time from the excitement of that experience, letting her forget all the things that had happened. It was nice to be simply living, living with burning passion sealed in the memory of one ordinary kiss.

* * *

_Lynne's lips..._

* * *

The sound of the bed creaking passed over her head as Albert slipped firm and gentle hands under her head and supported her in a long, uninterrupted kiss. It seemed rather small in comparison to the magnitude of options available.

Albert reached in for another supplanting pleasure, Lynne playfully nipping at his lips. "Heh." Albert's aggressiveness grew as he pressed himself upon her to wrestle away her poor defenses by removing her hands from the equation and feasted upon the simple, divine joy of kissing. In rapid succession a beat inside would rise and fall, her breathing succumbed to voluntary and temporary asphyxia, tasting a sweetness of life.

"Albert...!" Lynne unintentionally moaned, wailing his name in a gasp. What had surprised her?

He stopped.

"Hm. So you do seem to remember my name."

Lynne rested freed hands on his forearms, stroking them lovingly, as if she were soothing some sort of pain that wasn't readily accessible. _Are you alone Albert?_ Perhaps that was the worst assumption she could make. "Would you like to know what _exactly_ is so different about me?" Something spiteful in his oddly stormy eyes cast back the bliss she felt in her soul. Something dark was coming. "I allowed myself to fall into Death's arms and from that necessary event I was reborn."

"Your eyes then are a sign of..."

"A minor change in the grand scheme of things. At the cost of my humanity I gained limitless power all from a virus William gave to me." This intrigued and scared Lynne but not to the point of fright — it was reversed. Her emotions bordered on fear for Albert's heart. "Tell me then, Lynne, what is it you are looking for when you beg me to kiss you?" Haunting. And yet, playful.

"Your survival then, in the Arklay Labs was staged to your expectations." Lynne wasn't sure how to answer the question he had posed however. Was she looking for something per se? If she was she couldn't quite pin it — she was playing a dangerous and confusing game. This wasn't a normal reaction to someone who could suddenly turn on her and break her into combat with monsters. "Mm. You sound like some sort of villain." She smiled at him, a happy smile and admitted a thought out loud: "Albert you are sometimes so very cruel and so very kind to me." That statement seemed to irk him.

"I? Kind? My dear, my kindness stems only from my desire to keep you in good health until I am ready to use you. Do not mistake my attempts to keep you alive as benevolence — such a thing does not exist in me."

"Even so... What did it mean to lose your 'humanity'? Still yet, with all that has happened I can feel something so powerfully human inside you, something familiar. I am glad that you are still there." Lynne smiled at this thought.

* * *

Albert wasn't sure what to say to such a nonsensical statement. This was one of the aspects of her nature that attracted his attention. Even for someone so simple-minded she had a convoluted way of saying or expressing herself. Albert secured her wounded arm and peeled away the bandages he had so cautiously applied yesterday. "It's..." Yes, the wound was gone and no scar remained. It was interesting and he saw it as confirmation. Lynne sighed heavily as if suddenly insecure about something.

"Worried?"

"I am wondering what you did." Albert smiled.

"I find it particularly interesting that there are T-antibodies floating around in your blood. Tell me, did something nasty find you in Raccoon City?" She sighed. "Oh?"

"MA-121s intercepted Jon's attempt to escort me out of the city." The memory was hot before her mind's eyes.

* * *

Albert thought it interesting that her wounds would heal so quickly. He listened as she relayed the story of how she barely escaped with her life and how she used that time to put distance between her and Jon. Apparently she didn't want to be a slave to Umbrella's whims. Heh. "When I thought it was safe I pulled out the vaccine and to my dismay noticed it had cracked and leaked. At the very least I thought that even what little remained might be useful." So she had hesitantly but willingly administered the vaccine. Albert found this bit of information very interesting. He couldn't be quite sure why she hadn't mutated - was it some sort of natural immunity or did that little bit actually save her? Albert didn't place much faith in the latter explanation, but perhaps it could have been a combination of things. "I was so scared I was going to turn into a zombie... I started feeling faint and panicked. After working in that hospital for so long I thought, 'Shit... My symptoms are reminiscent of the infected patients'." Indeed, that had been one noticeable sign. But she seemed to suffer no degradation.

In all honesty though Albert had suspected as much - how would a researcher like her escape unscathed? Even with professional help, to which he laughed at, it was difficult to maintain one's condition in a city overrun by the T-virus. That was when his first interest was piqued, when he joined the Organization and amassed enough assets to discover new strains in light of his biggest ambition. Among that chaos that ensued, that was born from his constant buying, selling and modifications in the black market, he had found Lynne kept in Umbrella's grasp. They had indeed expressed an appropriate interest in her - a survivor of the outbreak with T-antibodies was valuable. But there was something odd about her DNA.

"You're thinking of ways to use me, aren't you?" It was perhaps a poor joke at best. Albert continued his musings, thinking it quite interesting that Lynne's DNA seemed to be in state of flux. Perhaps the T-virus had taken well but the administration of the vaccination might have complicated matters. In any event, what effect did the formed antibodies have? "Or at least of why I am... like this." He would have to await the results.

Hence the games he played. Lynne showed a steady progress in her dealings with the enemies he selected for her. The time might soon come to pass where he would introduce a new character for Lynne to contend with. It not only provided him with an opportunity to see any other effects of the virus's manipulation of her genetic sequence but also combat data which was always welcome.

However a thought remained clearly at the front of his mind when he saw Lynne grow weary once more. _This fatigue..._


	4. Chapter 4: Meet Albert?

Enjoy.

**22.08.2012 Author's Note(s)**: I try and I try to maintain character integrity with Wesker but it is so hard to be sure when there isn't a lot of context for the situation he's in - social wise. What do you think Albert Wesker would be like when he wasn't working on the complete global saturation (when isn't he)?

* * *

**Chapter Four: Meet... Albert?**

* * *

Wesker brought Lynne to an examination room. For some reason, despite an extensive project to operate endless hours in similar rooms Lynne felt rusty. She felt as if she had never seen such a place and concluded that it was because Wesker was there. Reflexively she began to fidget with the creases of her robe, running them across her cuticles.

* * *

Albert brought Lynne to an examination room.

_If she behaves well I might reward her. Might._ Albert brought Lynne to an examination room. He had acquired a small, private hospital and renovated the lower levels to suit his more experimental needs, while remodeling the remaining two levels to function as a clinic to bring in some revenue. "Uhm... Do you want me to...?" That was laughable; did _he_ _want_? Lynne gestured to the rest of her question by fidgeting with the robe.

"It is unnecessary at the moment," he answered. "Unless you wish to," he added with a grin. Albert set on his way, weighing her, measuring her height, fat-to-muscle ratio, checking her reflexes and giving her a good knock on the knee smiling delightfully when it uncontrollably up. Albert then drew some blood and set up some time to do a few run a few scans. He wondered if his suspicions would be confirmed. "All right, you can remove it." Albert examined Lynne's body, much to her discomfort looking for the areas in which she had experienced some sort of injury in conjunction with his trials. "Turn your back to me and hold your hair up," he commanded gently, checking the back of her head for the third time since she fell on it.

"Ah!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Your hands are really cold," she remarked oddly, her body shivering beneath his fingers resting on her neck. Just for kicks he let out a warm breath.

"Better?"

"Y-yes." Her back tensed.

"We are done for now." She smiled tentatively as she wrestled on the robe, relaxing with her body resting along the length of the table.

"Am I all right?" He nodded, pleasantly returning her smile with a smirk. At the very least, Lynne was decent to be around. "Mm. For now at least, neh? You think something's wrong with me." That much should have been obvious.

"You did have yourself a good fall." She nodded.

"Do you know what series that BOW chasing me came from?" _Hm. She called it a BOW I suppose she has retained a good deal of intelligence_ he mentally teased. Albert knew of it and had in fact dealt with a similar one shortly before his death. "Thank you for rescuing me, your pawn." She smiled. Again, with the smiling.

Albert excused himself to let her dress more appropriately while he took the samples back to the lab to process.

* * *

Lynne patiently awaited Wesker's return. He had given her a pair of dark (perfect fitting) jeans and creme blouse with (custom) flats. She wondered when he had taken the time to get her measurements and buy these clothes because she truly doubted he kept women's clothes around unless he took part in some interesting hobbies. Lynne then began to consider this idea more seriously in light of her boredom, imagining Albert dressing up in these clothes and giggling at the procured images. He would look ridiculous she concluded.

When he returned he had lost the infamous lab coat, the symbol Lynne had resigned herself to wearing and cherished. It was a status she wanted to be a part of, as if that had been the official uniform of the elite. She noted that Albert actually had on a more casual suit, though a suit nonetheless. "You have a good taste in clothes," she remarked, meaning her own attire. "Why did you buy them anyway?"

* * *

Should he answer with a joke? "Obviously so you wouldn't be attract any negative attention running around with bloody clothes."

"Well, that makes sense but even so, where did the idea for that outfit come from?" She had suspicious smile. "I think you like dress-up." Albert ignored her remark. She had behaved well thus far. Perhaps he could treat her. There was a local bakery not far from here which had a rather delicious array of sweets that he was sure Lynne would enjoy: she had an enormous sweet tooth.

"Are you hungry?" She nodded.

"Are we going to eat somewhere?" Albert considered this "we". He had found that playing around in the shadows suited him well enough for the time being. There was no reason to let himself be seen so nakedly in the public's eye yet he had no real fear of being recognized (on the off chance that someone did recognize him): it would have been nothing more than a minor inconvenience. His mind approached Lynne as the only variable of concern. Albert had managed to keep Lynne just beyond Umbrella's reach until recently. One of Sergei's lapdogs had interrupted his last experiment alarming him to a certain extent. Why would Sergei become involved with the retrieval of an Umbrella researcher? This also intrigued Albert: how could one little researcher be that important to warrant such an extravagant search? It came back to his previous conclusion: it was either the antibodies (which he dismissed upon review for Spencer had no need of a cure and the mere fact that there were multiple strains of the t-virus in existence) or her DNA which had caught Albert's eye.

_Perhaps it might be worth my time to see the world. _ "Yes, we will stop by a local bakery first." _This might be fun._ A part of him squirmed with raging glee as Lynne raised her voice to protest this action, urging him to reconsider if it was safer otherwise. Truly, what had Albert to fear?

* * *

Lynne couldn't quite figure out what Wesker was planning but by the detail of his actions: from combing his hair a different way, changing the color of his eyes with contacts had a profound effect on his appearance. He looked much younger, more easy-going though his sunglasses held it back. Wesker also happened to adopt a slightly... different persona. His personality suddenly became more open, more agreeable but that sense of playfulness and taunt never left his manner. His voice also became actively "higher" and by higher it became lighter, less emphasis was put on words as he demonstrated this new character.

"Come along now Lynne, I'm quite hungry." He took her hand close in his. It was warmer now.

"Wesker...?" He smiled and said quite politely. "My name is _Albert_. Call me as such." It was pleasant in a strange way and Lynne was reminded suddenly of the young man she had met in the Arklay Labs. At this thought she blushed — this felt more and more like a date.

"Albert." He had smiled nicely at her, even if through his shades his eyes glowed with that enigmatic smile. The bakery he had spoke of was cute — quaint with rows of desserts waiting to be devoured and different kinds of specialty breads as well as a few hot sandwiches. As she nibbled into a piece of apple tart Lynne asked, "Where are we going after this?"

A woman tending the counter smiled warmly and asked in a polite voice, "Is this your girlfriend?" Without any hesitation Albert said, "Yes. Isn't she lucky to have someone like me?" The clerk had a generous laugh that made Lynne's insides turn to mush all the while being heated by Albert's extremely out-out-of-character actions.

"Are you blushing _love_?" Lynne died on the inside. _This is some alternate world, a crazy story authored by a psycho, a psycho who couldn't possibly understand that Albert isn't like this._ Albert would _never_ tease her like this but here it was, in plain letters, that heart-pounding word being spoken by someone she admired _to_ her.

"I-I am not!" Lynne hid her face behind shy hands to which Albert laughed, paid and led her back to the car.

"Why are you so flustered?" That eerie coldness in his voice made Lynne jump. It might have been the fact that Lynne didn't expect it to sound so... sexy. Then she remembered: Wesker had that perfectly authoritarian voice, that one that made you sweat bullets if it caught you slacking off or breaking rules.

"I'm not flustered!" Lynne exclaimed followed by, "Why did you tell her I was your girlfriend?" Her voice betrayed her, the shyness stubbornly refusing to detach itself in order to save Lynne's assumed pride. Albert leaned over the center console and placed a cool hand on her leg.

"It might be in your best interest to learn to act like a suitable girlfriend." Albert pecked her on the cheek, a cute smile arising from his lips. "After all, it would make for an interesting disguise." Best not to lose one's head. _And then Fate's psychotic hands inked out a ribbon of text that wove me into despair — for to be like this with Albert is merely a dream and a stretch of imagination_. Albert winded through the up and coming town to breach the undrawn division of the city's limits, flowing smoothly into traffic. Lynne thought it very fitting — he handled driving much like he handled everything else: calmly and with confident precision. She smiled and let the steady hum of the engine rocking the car tempt her into a blissful sleep when a gentle hand reached out and said, "We'll stop here first."

Albert smiled at her. "Hm?" She yawned. "This is..." _... a hair salon?_ Lynne felt appreciative of the tart and sat in wonder. "Why here?"

"What do you think of getting a haircut?" Truthfully the notion had frightened her. Lately Lynne noticed a trend in short hair and found many cute ones but she worried that she would expose too much of her face. "Come along dear."

This pretend play was eating at her heart.

* * *

Albert watched in joy as he sat her down for the appointment he had scheduled yesterday and conveyed his expectations to the hair stylist, even showing her a few pictures he picked out. _I'll see you into a different world Lynne, even if one little step at a time._ If anything Albert remembered her homely shyness stripping away every ounce of command she could possess. Lynne completely lacked confidence in herself and this had begun to irk him towards the end of his service with Umbrella. But then he spied her one night in a bar (though too young) dancing alluringly among the crowd. And again he spied her with her head held composed when confronted with a strange problem: it occurred in the Arklay labs when Lynne was dawdling around with other members of the research team. One particular fellow whom Albert was not fond of and vice versa began to speak ill of him (which humored him) and began the usual assault against his person when Lynne, notably notorious for her self-proclaimed hate of Chief Researcher Wesker (then) sighed and shut him down with a simple draw. She looked rather irritated and berated him telling him he should be more sensitive to people whom he did not personally know. A ridiculous comeback but nonetheless he quieted his tongue though fumed terribly on the inside - this researcher had a touching crush on Lynne. As did many of the men in the labs.

He looked back at her, she who looked both so scared and excited. "That's what you picked? Are you sure I would look nice with that?" It was odd to note that he could actually tell she liked them very much. He secured a corner and watched casually as her lovely curls fell to the floor. _This will be an interesting transformation_.

When the stylist stepped back Albert had to do a double take, thankful he was wearing his sunglasses. The stylist had layered the back of Lynne's hair suitably and had cut cute angled bangs with it longer on the sides. Lynne looked so uneasy slipping off of the chair, eyes averted from the mirror and tried to look again. There was an irresistible smile that refused to die. "Thank you," she said in a cute voice. And then she ran to Albert, ran to him and buried her face in his chest as she embraced him. "I like it. Does it look good on me?" It made her face much easier to appreciate.

"It suits you." Albert paid and tipped the stylist well, leaving with one very shy and happy girl on his arm. _How unlike me._ Again they would drive but Albert had a simple place in mind. He thought that they should eat dinner at a simple restaurant and then hit up a bar, possibly a club, for drinks.

Lynne fell asleep during the short trip to a restaurant Albert hoped looked promising, some Italian place. He was in the mood for some sort of pasta and when it came time to order Lynne asked very sweetly for some carbonara. _Sounds good enough._ Albert mimicked her order and set about to making small talk. He noticed that Lynne had a lovely laugh that suited her character. "You know Albert... I remember the day I first met you." She took a sip of the tea she ordered.

"Oh?"

"Mm. I thought I wanted to know more about you, you know? You're so mysterious that I couldn't help but latch onto the riddle of the man who wore sunglasses." She gave out a light laugh. "I remember also foolishly wondering what you were like when you weren't at work and then I thought at looking at your hours that you were always at work, in some form or another. What did you ever do for fun?" That soft look returned.

"It truly depended on what was available to me." Lynne coughed.

"Excuse me." She took another sip and stared at him for a long while. "Even after all this time you don't seem to have lost much of that charm. Though I think you've become more wicked somehow." Lynne was teasing him.

"You've remained as beautiful as ever." His remark noticeably caught her off-guard, the hot tea going down roughly.

"What?"

"You're very beautiful. I'm glad to see that much of the changes to you are just compliments of maturity." Was this so unlike him? He didn't really care. The world could think whatever of him so long as they didn't think any less of what he really was. "I remember that Jon was particular about whom you spent your time around." She nodded, smiling if not a bit sadly.

"Jon did... have that kind of nature towards me, didn't he? He asked me to stop visiting you when you were inaugurated as captain. I suppose it was justified suspicion. Though... no matter how the meetings went I enjoyed visiting you and bringing you small things. I think that annoyed you though." Another laugh. Lynne had indeed made it a point of bringing him something every time she visited — even if only stories. Albert was thankful that she didn't get in the way when business came for it did very often and it normally carried the mark of Umbrella's plans gone awry. Lynne most often though visited with some sort of snack of meal she prepared. They were often delicious but entirely experimental.

During those times Albert found he could also make a useful secretary out of her for she seemed to possess infinite space in her memory for the things he fiendishly asked her to remember. Lynne could pencil the details in with ease.

The arrival of their dinner didn't stop the flow of conversation that Lynne primarily maintained. Their attentions shifted though to Albert's actions as of late. "I... was surprised to find out you were still alive."

"Did you cry when you heard I'd died?" She had a tearful etch to her soulful eyes.

"I didn't think I possessed the ability to cry. I was so shocked. Heh. Stupid me."

"Mm yes." Albert thought back to the first initial incident, the first real leak of the t-virus that had escaped. It had happened back in May of 1998. As the Chief of Security at the Arklay Labs he wound up locking the researchers down and shutting off interactions with the outside world as they eventually decayed among the specimens they'd created. He looked to the one researcher who was detained: Jon had received her with care from orders above. That was another bell. "I think you are quite stupid for interacting so positively with me _love_."

"That was something else I supposed I hadn't really... been able to swallow. But I realized that I was never in any real danger. If I had truly fallen into a bind that I couldn't get out of somehow, some way I was almost always saved by the enigmatic shades." Mm well, she was indeed a pool of knowledge waiting to be probed. _In more than one way_ he jokingly added in his mind.

Suddenly he remembered something Jon had once bragged about: Lynne had an interesting history. This gave him even more incentive to drag Lynne to a club. Not to mention he caught her occasionally swaying to a track on the radio mounted on her desk. In any event she was quite fond of music and perhaps Albert could find all sorts of entertainment lurking in the pools of people gathering around the bar and floor.

"Lynne, would you care to dance?" She was caught off guard yet again.

* * *

Lynne was confused; "Lynne, would you care to dance?" Lynne had been carefully wandering around in her thoughts about Albert's strange behavior. It was peculiar, even if he was _acting_. But Lynne was sure that there were things that she couldn't assume no matter how out of character it seemed. It seemed, it seemed it seemed. Today felt like a roller coaster ride. _For some reason this pace that I'm moving at feels strange. What have I been doing?_

Lynne found herself in a club. There was just enough room to dance and the music sent waves through her body. She felt shy but there was something she could never deny: she loved to dance no matter how ridiculous she looked. Albert let her go and she found her spot in the crowd and began stretching her form as she always did and began swaying her hips side to side to the rhythm, singing the words she heard inside her body. Again Lynne thought of her current state. _What am I doing right now?_

* * *

Albert watched her spin into motion, mesmerized. There was something enchanting about how Lynne let herself be in this simple action of dancing and as she mingled with the crowd several men started bracing themselves to brush up against her. She smiled sexily at them, a side he hadn't ever truly seen, and watched as she partnered with them equally until someone got too touchy. Stepping back Lynne said something muffled by harrowingly loud beats and which did not seem to please this stranger. _Come now Lynne, show me something entertaining._ Albert sipped on a drink he had recently acquired watching the little drama play out. Perhaps he had a bit much to drink or perhaps he truly was an idiot. No matter the case Lynne did her best to, Albert was sure, politely ask him to stop humping her ass.

Then said man snatched her arm and pulled her close.

Lynne felt frightened. She didn't know how to handle someone in a situation like this and the people around her formed a dazed crowd. _I wonder if this is Bystander Effect in play..._ Lynne flinched; the telltale signs of a bruise beginning to appear. He kept muttering something over and over, and it confused her. What provoked him to have such ridiculous behavior? "Please, you're hurting me," she said through a painful face. "I don't want to cause a scene." If she were lucky she could spare him some embarrassment later. The "crowd" was a little careless in their amusement.

"You're causing me a lot of trouble," is what she heard. She wasn't sure, the music was so loud.

An arm slipped around her waist. "Are you all right honey?" There were two things wrong with this scenario: one) who the hell was this man? and two) when did Albert say things like "honey"? He smiled at her and held her close. The rampant reply came, "Who the fuck are you?" Lynne wasn't sure what to do at this point other than keep anything physical from happening. "I'm her boyfriend and to be quite honestly I am not keen on the way you were rubbing your dick all over her." And then Albert kissed Lynne, as if to say, _"Am I still your knight in shining armor?"_

Albert caught the ridiculously off-balanced attempt at a punch thrown. And, in turn, punched him square in the jaw. With a smile he returned to Lynne's side and escorted her to another area on the dance floor. "Albert... is he ok?" He laughed contemptuously.

"Don't bother worrying about trash like that." A different song came on, much slower in temp. "Show me how you would dance to a song like this." And this weird fascination with her dancing... She tried to think of it but her head felt hazy again.

"Just... for a little bit, ok? I'm a bit tired." Shy at first Lynne let the worry of Albert's insane laughter be chased out of her mind with the song. It was hypnotic, it made her want to curl up and feel the texture of her sheets and just breathe in sweet air. It was so enlightening to hear that she did whatever came to mind. But the haze wouldn't stop eating at her consciousness. Albert's arms steadied her and with a tender voice he said, "So Jon was right for once: you are truly a sight to see when dancing." Lynne tried to laugh. That was ridiculous. "Albert... I'm-"

"You're tired." He cut in and saved her the breath. Lynne just felt so queasy. "I'll take you somewhere."

Albert saw the bruise on her arm.

He had checked out a room in another hotel and laid her down to rest, covering her lightly for she tended to kick off the comforter if she became too warm. _What a mess. How is it that I end up playing the tending doctor?_ It would be another chance to examine her a little more closely.

Spencer's true intentions were unknown to him and this was unsettling. Albert only felt secure when he understood where people were in relation to him. Why keep this one researcher alive? Why approve Birkin's hasty project? Why push for a 100% effective virus? Too many questions and so little answers.

Lynne moaned pitifully. "Albert... don't die..." That made him smile a bit. _Oh yes you are a stupid one._ He would definitely continue to play games with her.

His phone beeped.


	5. Chapter 5: Dancing Comrades

**09.12.2012 Author's Note(s):** Enjoy this please! It took me so long to write and I'm very sorry about that.

* * *

**Chapter Five:**** Dancing Comrades**

* * *

Jon warned her of planes.

* * *

Lynne recycled the tragic moments of her life into a playful story — laid bare upon the floor and with twiddling thumbs thought of the peculiar circumstances: in the dark her mind sang multiple songs of wonder of the estranged man known as Albert Wesker - a deviant. So strange that her time researching the effects of the NE-a type with the former researcher had come to an end. _I wonder if we will meet again?_

With great effort Lynne mustered the will to move her sorry behind down the hall and into the bedroom where her bed called like a loving companion: _"Come lay yourself unto me"_ it said. Jokingly of course. If beds said such things or rather, said much of anything at all, it would be quite unnatural. _Possibly worth getting checked out._ Collapsing in a fit upon her bed Lynne struggled to make practical sense of her surroundings. In her head still floated the brief memories she had accumulated at the Arklay Labs as a consulting researcher on the Tyrant Project and all the experimental successes borne from the foundation they built. Wasn't that in and of itself exciting? The more curious side of her wished this triumph well.

* * *

_Is that really a triumph though?_ Lynne saw the city streets before her.

* * *

"Again. I'm thinking of it all again." Lynne shifted her body. With great comfort she wrapped her limbs around a body pillow and buried her shameful face. So many thoughts had been eating at her mind. Slumbering with those accusations in her mind was difficult and the journey to sleep was demoralizing. If only she had enough sense to sink those emotions, those tender feelings.

Morning remembered those wanderings no matter how hard she resisted waking and alertness. Exhausted with face upturned her mind drifted to happenings around the room. _I'll never go back to sleep yet I don't want to leave my bed._ Light was creeping in through the slats of shades. Had she shut them so haphazardly? She tried to forget her apocalyptic dream, the same reoccurring nightmare that plagued her conscience and robbed her senseless. A hand wearily cast over her eyes Lynne tried to dream something better, something less ill-meaning and her thoughts drifted toward peculiar man: Albert Wesker. Why had her thoughts come to him? He had indeed played an interesting (but phenomenally unimportant) role in her dreams.

His manner had always intrigued Lynne to the point that she found him perfectly not boring. She was so intellectually pleased by his mannerisms and quirks, so very satisfied with his personality and all the intricacies stemming from their interactions. Well... _intricacies_ was perhaps slightly misleading.

There was his callous and aloof nature — that no nonsense that brought her back down to practicality at times. And there was his eternal hiding. Albert was a man full of secrets. But she thought him all the better for the lapses in his normal fittings: with his mild teasings Lynne found it possible to enjoy working at the Arklay labs. One small gesture had set off a storm of questions and gazes from coworkers. Albert had the inclination to say: "You seem a little young to be around a facility such as this" when they first met. With a polite hand he then made it a point to tap her forehead (an oddity in itself), caress her chin (his flirtatious motions had been borne then) and add in whisper, "You are the consultant from Europe, aren't you?" That moment had burned her with girly embarrassment.

He had announced his resignation with little (if any) sorrow and with due haste. Albert somehow always seemed to be trapped in the net of time for some sort of event. Though Lynne supposed that her life was wired in a somewhat similar manner. _Albert's just tangled up in darker affairs than I am_. Lynne laughed. Imagining Albert in grandiose situations gave her mind something to consume when she tired of her own role in daydreams and night thoughts. _He seems like the type to be involved in something grand with the possibility of terrible._

_... Is that so unlike what I have helped prepare for the world?_

Her mood faced a downpour but somehow those grey clouds were swept away. Something inside her blew them away. And it was frightening how apathetic she was to that event: a cruelty lying inside of her emotions. The lights were brighter than ever, the sun rising into her eyes and spilling dizziness into her brain. That dizziness soon grew into a needle that pricked the sides of her head and morphed into another and another dividing into a barrage in which somehow took all the sensation out of her body.

And it all came back in spurts, in wheezes and lovely color down the corners of her mouth. Lynne's mind began to race as she dreaded, the thoughts repeating in horrid placid loop.

* * *

There was little else to that morning.

* * *

Lynne awoke with the past on her eyes and the present on the tip of her tongue. _In what state am I waking up this time?_ She could hear someone busily jabbing away at the keys of a computer, something speedy and precise."My little fiance seems to have gone away still." A small _click!_ resounded in her ears as Jon's fingers etched a sore pattern onto Lynne's cheek and his eyes pressed a little color into her soulless face. Lynne couldn't feel the will to respond to his touch. "Are you that bitten to have to return to Paris?"

"It isn't necessarily that. I just..." Lynne couldn't find the complete words to finish that thought.

"You should be happy, Lynne. Our games are almost done." Jon kissed her nose gently. "Isn't that something to look forward to?" There was a faint smile on his lips. "It's been entertaining to watch you grow." He embraced her, his warm breath coloring her ears with moist residue.

"Jon..." Lynne neglected to will herself again to respond to his touch. There was something cold in his demeanor, something distant and harshly bright. It would be an understatement to say that she was not in the mood to be played with right now. She didn't feel like doing much of anything right now.

"Don't look so vexed. Come along now; I've not seen you in a long time." Lynne spent long minutes residing in herself and longing for something much more... _Albert. I miss Albert. I wonder where he's gone._ Where had the curious chief researcher gone? He had left her to her own devices for the last time to work in another department, a more devious department. She wished sorely that somehow she might have gone with him for when he departed from her life so did all the color in the world that made it worth living.

_That seems to be more dramatic than the reality,_ Lynne remarked. Jon's hands brought her attention to a growing pain in her chest. It felt tight and restricted and made it just a tad bit harder for her to breathe without feeling like she was missing part of her breath. "Lynne, are you all right?" His face had become suddenly intense, the small hint of color fading from his cheeks. Lynne squeaked out that she was fine, just having trouble breathing. Jon took out a little bottle of pills. Three in hand he kindly spoke, "Please take these. They should help." They weren't hard to swallow but they did taste something a bit foul. After about a minute the pressure was cast off and Lynne's breathing normalized. "I suppose you are due back to Dr. Gessum in any case." She didn't like the sound of that but it was more or less necessary. "Don't worry so much right now, just rest. I'll see you in the morning." Jon gently pushed her into a comfortable position inside his arms and exhaled sharply. "Sweet dreams Lynne."

Sleep was easily discovered.

* * *

When Lynne awoke and awoke for the permanence of the day it was a little dark out. It made her feel lazy and pathetic. As much as she enjoyed sleep she found that waking at such odd hours often killed the pleasure of her activities for whatever hours remained. "Don't worry, it is not as late as you think." Jon's voice stirred her mind. She turned to face him and his intense face and wasn't sure what to think for he still seemed to be dreaming. His breathing still carried with it the rhythms of sleep. _You're so vulnerable now._ Yet he had responded so keenly aware of her thoughts.

"Lynne..." Jon had spoken her name so softly, so pathetically that it sounded quite sweet and asked her closer. His soft, dark brown hair was pulled over to one side exposing his scouring eyes. She watched them move and speculated as to what he might be looking at, wondering what role she might have had in his dream when a quick hand darted out and stole her arm. _Relax, relax, it was just a reflex._ Jon had pulled her underneath him, his face buried in her hair and his hot breaths tickling Lynne's scalp. "Lynne..." There was a relieved moan. Perhaps he had lost her?

Her heart returned to him in this moment. It reminded her much of the time when she had first met Jon. That was a precious memory.

* * *

Albert continued to monitor her progress. It was entertaining to say the least and all the subtle hints of Umbrella's decadent work lay bare to him once more. Of all the encounters he had had with the little consultant (and there were many) he recalled several interesting deviations in their conversations. One such being when he woke her and pulled her into a distressed state.

Lynne stirred little and snored even lighter.

Albert looked back at his newly acquired data and wove together a few more theories which all concluded in his disappointment. At most his suspicions were confirmed when he learned that there were multiple strains of the T-virus inside of Lynne's body.

One he was quite sure was implanted inside of Lynne. The other he assumed she picked up from her time in Raccoon City. But this other one... without the data from Umbrella's archives he couldn't be sure what it was specifically. _This might be the answer to Umbrella's dire search. They've lost their precious specimen._ The thought tickled him deeply. Here was another toy of Umbrella's, a poor girl who was soldiered into the corporation. And in his hands. His very _capable_ and curious hands. What could they have hoped to accomplish with this little girl?

Albert thought intensely about Lynne's worth as a specimen to _him._

* * *

This time Lynne enjoyed making love to Jon. They were present and actively responding to one another. She felt comforted.

They didn't collapse into sleep and instead found energy to carry on with the rest of the day, treating one another to a wacky and lackluster lunch filled with laughter in which business had left the air. They were so carefree in this moment and Lynne would come to appreciate it in times of loneliness.

Something warm on her lips...

* * *

Jon had come to say goodbye for now. "I'll return when it is time to go back to Paris. Try not to be so sad." There was a flash of a smile and there was also a hint of something scary.

* * *

Something warm tickling her lips. "You're awake," came Wesker's voice. It was dry in tone but all the more lovely to hear for there seemed to be nothing malicious dwelling within. "You've slept a long time."

"And have you slept very little?" Lynne's mind was still a bit groggy. "Good morning Wesker." And thusly she smiled for the first time since she had lapsed into sleep. He gave a surly response, a brisk "Hmph".

"It is much closer to afternoon." There was little that had been restored unto her and Lynne wished sorely that she could do something lively and something entertaining. In a faint memory her fingers reached her lips. Her lips. They were still tingly with curious sensation. "It appears that you have some potential as..." Albert's voice trailed off and somehow got lost in the distance. She felt very sickly warm and that feeling carried over into her head.

"Albert..." she called out in a whimper. "I-I can't hear you." A painful ringing alarmed her.

* * *

Just as soon as she had come back to consciousness something menacing threatened a very useful conversation. How he hated to repeat himself. Albert dug calmly into his briefcase for a replication of a medicine he kindly borrowed from Jon. He felt it would be valuable should he keep up his interactions with the little researcher. Jon had once told him that his job required it of him in response to Albert's inquiry as to why he was often found lurking around the labs (and Raccoon City for that matter). He had changed the form of delivery and pricked her in the arm. Several seconds later she shuttered back into his arms, a little startled and confused.

So he thought he might take a bit of a reward for saving her some trouble down the road. Albert leaned down and kissed the weary girl on the lips, smiling inside himself for being so devious. He'd promised he wouldn't play such a terrible game with Lynne but she made it so easy and fun with her face rushing with color and those gentle lips that kissed back. "Albert...?" she squeaked out with wide eyes.

"Lynne," he mocked. Albert wondered if her relationship with Jon was built on that simple principle of character: Lynne was fun to torment. "Kiss me again." And he brought himself closer, the glint on his sunglasses burning deep into her eyes. "Kiss me," he repeated in a soft whisper. Would that draw her closer to him? He figured that at the very least pulling Lynne in might keep her within his grasp. _It would be easy to recall someone who was infatuated with the idea of seeing him again, wouldn't it._

He dropped Lynne back onto the bed and began to question his intentions. There was something tragic about the little researcher, something pitiful that made even he want to silence the doom breeding inside. He would have to put an extraneous amount of effort into her for right now she wasn't a practical option for experimentation. Umbrella had stuck their fingers too far.

However he had alerted them long ago.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to have some fun before he returned their precious toy. Albert resolved to take her out into the town before the teams came swarming in. "I'll send a cab for you my dear. I have some things to attend to."

"A cab?" He chuckled slightly at how she clung to that one item.

"Yes. I shall see you at dinner tonight at a lovely restaurant." He left her in wonder and awe bringing her attention to a little number hanging in the closet and several items in the dresser. "Do take care to make yourself decent — you are going to be with me." She gave him an edgy glance as if to say that he had just insulted her and to also imply that she were nervous to make him look bad. Briefcase in hand Albert traveled down the long flights of stairs and took care to monitor the recent deposits from several transactions on the market had gone well. _More to invest._

When he found himself bored of thoughts he let his mind dabble in fantasy and in simple pleasures. Simple physical memories and somehow they had circulated around his recent intimate encounters with Lynne. It spread much like a poison, a fire accumulating. Perhaps he should fix that for his own sake...

The middleman always had a weak constitution and if it had been for anything truly important Albert might have put him out of his nervous misery. But there was something humorous about his stuttering and efforts to appear calmer. Albert hadn't left good cargo in the hands of an incompetent though — no, he was much too careful. He had always arranged for his personal shipments to be dropped off in several locations handled by an emotional void with skilled hands. This man was just a front to entertain himself with, a chauffeur.

Albert thought constantly of how Lynne might come in handy. There were a multitude of options open to him but there were several problems that needed correcting. Slowly her body was degrading. He felt the trigger had come from Umbrella's side earlier on in the game. It would be something interesting to look into when he had time after he acquired Umbrella's data.

_Lynne..._ There were several emotions attached to that thought. There was excitement and there was just a hint of subtle loneliness. She had a way of keeping company that wasn't irritating.

* * *

Lynne couldn't explain why she felt so somber. It was a sickening dread building in her stomach, the sort that always seemed to precede those helpless moments when she would wake up in another one of Wesker's sick games. _Calm down! _She wished.

Lynne admired the dress mindlessly when a knock came to the door. Before she could reach for the knob a careless explosion blew it off its hinges. Without much hesitation Lynne took cover behind the bathroom door peering out to see who had let themselves in. _What a lovely entrance..._ she thought mildly to herself. There were several men, or so she thought for their builds look largely of men. And they were large. What should she do? They all had some kind of automatic in their arms, a handgun of sorts she supposed holstered as well as other weapon-y knick knacks. _I knew I should have spent more time in the weapons development lab with Steve._ Lynne took several seconds aside to ponder why she hadn't for weapons and their curious nature had always fascinated her. "Retrieve the subject" cut into her thoughts and she thought in beloved horror that she might be said subject. Unless they were looking for Albert. Then again, they would probably want to kill him.

_Though he should have already been dead._

Her thinking time was done: one such member of the daring team was taking steps toward the bathroom and sitting there in suspense Lynne wondered what, if anything, could she do to combat this threat? _I suppose this would be a good time to tell myself: remember your training! If I had had any._

Humans weren't much like zombies. Lynne could get around zombies with little trouble at all. She just had to get over her fear of them. Humans though, humans were capable of intellectual thought (some more so than others) and could carry guns and were rather prone to rash emotions in situations like this.

_I wonder if they would knock me out?_ He opened the door and jammed the end of his scope into her face. _Obviously._ "Subject secured," she was sure he said. Three of them. There were three of them. _How sore!_ He reached down, roughly pulled her up by her left arm, and secured her with a pair of really painful cuffs and pinned her against the wall. All the while Lynne felt it unnecessary but saw the "practicality" in it all. She wished Umbrella would have had a more... _Wait..._

* * *

There were many things Albert had counted on but not so much the interference of this third party. Perhaps their employer existed in some other organization snatching up Umbrella's remains. He watched from the hotel across the street as Lynne was so easily captured. He had, in truth, hoped for a more of a show.

They left quickly and as quietly as now possible, people panicking in their little rooms. He took notice of a little car parked conspicuously on the street quite near the back entrance of the building and took aim. He might as well be some sort of an agitator. As soon as they made way and threw her inside, quite literally, Albert shot out a tire and took out one of the measly little guards, waiting to see their next plan of action as the scoured the for the origin of their comrades death. _But truly, just a little car?_ Whatever happened to helicopters? Not that they lasted terribly long in his experience.

Their attention turned. What he imagined might have been a loud thumping alerted them to a heavy shadow floating near them. A special friend. The tyrant model moved with such purposeful malaise.

* * *

It was sort of like a weary reminder. Lynne had hoped that that thing would not have been sent but here it was again. She sighed and tried to soothe her nerves thinking that she might be able to get away while the two ill-prepared men were busy. Lynne wondered where everyone might have been and hoped that all were very very far away. She didn't know her surroundings all that well and realized that Albert had moved them yet again to some strange location.

Lynne thought of some way to get out of her bind more intimate bind. The tyrant was little distracted by the incessant gunfire and screaming and part of her — "Get out of the way!" she screamed at him, kicking the door open. He backed himself up against a wall and in frustration Lynne rolled out of the car, took a deep breath, and kicked the tyrant model as hard as she could in the back of the knee. Or what she thought was it's knee. Like a man who wondered what had tapped him, it turned. _Oh. Right. Got to keep that impulsiveness under control._ It reached out for her which she clumsily dodged by dumb luck — she tripped over the curb. "Are you going to keep standing there?" she yelled at the soldier. The tyrant came again and raised an arm to strike her — to which she thought was perhaps a bit more aggressive than should be appropriate. Lynne threw her weight to the side and tasted chips of concrete in her mouth. _Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this tastes funny._ A shot caught her off guard and took away thoughts of the tyrant. The soldier had long since been gone. _I'll bet on this one._

There was a fine line trickling down the side of its face. It seemed almost like a direct hit. Suddenly it flung itself at Lynne with great speed to which she thought: _oh shit. Something bad happened._ She recalled reports drifting through her fingertips about a specific dilemma. She jumped cautiously to dodge its assault and flailed around as it unleashed a barrage of punches. It was going berserk. Lynne had done a bit of reading on this particular model and took notice that its limiters still seemed to be intact but the gunshot must have triggered something in the parasite residing within. The type fell to the floor and began to howl, its massive hands pulling at the coat. _Shit! Shit! Shit! Come on Mr. Sniper! Take it out!_ Lynne prayed as she increased the distance between them. She heard several shots but the cries of the monster behind her still filled the air. She could hear the dreadful tearing of fabric and the cracking of hard plastic. _I wonder..._

Lynne turned to see the tyrant go through extensive mutation: tendrils slithered from all areas of its body and ripped into its muscle and quickly reformed it, making it larger, stronger. It also received a pair of sharp claws (a first in her book) that must've been at least a few feet long. It stood taller she thought, and its face became an eerie grin as its teeth were greatly exposed like a perpetual grin. It huffed, like it was tired almost from the work the parasite had pushed its body through. "That's going to be one big problem." _What should I do? I can't leave it here._ She would have to kill it. Somehow.

A window shattered nearby and a dark shadow came tumbling nearby. He held a rather enormous gun, what she supposed was the sniper. "Albert...?" She made an error. He grinned.

"Oh, so you can call me by my first name." He took aim and shot the transformed tyrant who had just started advancing. Regrettably it did not stop it. "I suppose we will have to take other measures." Perhaps he wanted it as some sort of prize though he could have captured the last one that came after her. "Will you be of any use?"

"What do you mean?"

"I will be expecting your cooperation," Wesker alerted Lynne with a devious tone. It was worrisome and it must have come out into her face for Albert smiled at her and added, "You have a few minutes to yourself. Make good use of it." He walked towards the compromised specimen, a shiny and familiar gun in hand. _Wonder if is the sentimental type?_ _Oh! Focus Lynne!_ But on what? Her knowledge of combat was very limited she had already established. And lacking. In many areas. _Actually I think the only thing I can actually fight are zombies. Untransformed zombies._ She shuddered slightly and wondered how she was going to bite the bullet this time.

Her attention moved to the tyrant and how reckless it had become. At the very least, when it still had its limiters on, it could be expected it was following some sort of generic order. It was more predictable. Now it was a mass of impulse that Albert was actually doing rather well against despite the sudden strikes. Why it wouldn't die though... despite multiple head shots (there was no way Albert was going to be able to use his Samurai Edge to break through the shell that was its chest and pierce its heart) it still managed to carry on. That alone was disturbing. Why had its mutation also brought upon the appearance of a defense mechanism not seen in other models?

Lynne fell to the ground, arms wrapped tightly over her head, crushed metal and glass soaring over her. She hadn't been paying too close attention — all her observations had stopped her from processing the fact that it had locked its gaze on her despite Albert's efforts to deter it. It had flipped a car in her general direction and the next thing she sensed was Albert's coat pushed roughly against her face. "Miserable little girl. You need to always pay attention to what's going on around you!" Albert lifted her to her feet, and stared deeply into her eyes through his thick shades. "Time to be useful." She heard a vicious roar from behind and tensed. "I want you to remember one thing right now: never close your eyes and react accordingly." There was a dark wind that shot past her back, the chilling sensation of claws so close set her skin ablaze with goosebumps. But she had been saved yet again - Albert pulled her close and took a good bound back. "Let's begin." That made her so very nervous.

"Wait, what are you doing?" He took her hands into his and curled them into fists. "Are you insane? How the hell am I supposed to stand up to a tank like that?"

"Trust me." There wasn't anything more to his voice other than that sincere command. And though it might be the death of her she relinquished all doubt and laid her faith in him. When the tyrant came closer it took two swipes in opposite directions almost simultaneously. Wesker moved her body with his and snuck inside and with urging he managed to get Lynne to haphazardly attempt to punch it. It made her feel so ridiculous. For a minute it just stared at her dumbfounded and Albert sighed. Before it could retaliate Albert jumped back again, Lynne in his arms. "Next time a little harder." And for some time they danced around it like this.

At first Lynne wasn't completely sure if this sort of learning style was really doing anything for her experience but the more she got shuffled around by Albert the more she felt a bit like she was dancing in some crazy fashion. It became almost fun. _This must be the adrenaline kicking in_.

At some point Lynne realized Albert was merely pointing her in some generic direction and letting her move out on her own. She may not have been trained but at the very least she learned she could take the effort to properly dodge an attack with minimal recovery. "We need to work on your offense sometime." Albert let go of her and rushed ahead, jumping high in the air and bashing his knee into the tyrant's head. There was a sickening sound, a wet smacking. It moaned pitifully and fell to the floor and without hesitation Lynne watched as Albert dug his gun into the soft spot he'd made and empty the rest of his clip.

With a small roar the model collapsed, dead.

And then Albert looked at her. "It might be worth your time to work on some combat-related skills Ms._ Scarlet_." He hadn't called her that in a long time. It was a joke, a pettish name meant to be teasing for the color he had often made her turn. "You should take care to learn a thing or two about combat." She smiled at him but that didn't last long. Albert neared her, swept her off her feet. It shook her, especially the slightest pressure she felt on the back of her neck soon followed by a sweeping slumber. "Goodnight my dear.


End file.
